Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Fire tears through vacant hotel at 14th and Quincy

Fire hit the old C & K Hotel on the 3700 block of 14th Street NW, across from the Red Derby on Sunday. The building, which is actually three connected rowhouses, was sold to a developer about a year ago and has been vacant for some time.

DCist reports the plans were to demolish it and build a 20-unit residential building with ground floor retail, which sounds ideal for that location. It sounds especially good considering the building's history: neighbors say it used to be a brothel and site of drug dealing, and before that was one of the city's few transient hotels.

The owner has been trying to demolish it for some time, but wasn't able to due to some issues with Washington Gas, though they actually filed plans last week. Let's hope the fire doesn't delay those plans too much.

Councilmember Muriel Bowser posted on the Spring-Perry listserve that they're working with DCRA to make sure the building is secured and will update with the owner's cleanup and development plans.

Two firefighters were sent to the hospital with smoke-related injuries.

ANC 1A01 commisioner Lisa Kralovic sent me these pictures of the building after the fire, which started in the back.